Yeeah Boy!: Boondocks Season 3 Starts May 2nd

Finally, after a two year hiatus, Aaron McGruder’s Peabody Award winning series, The Boondocks, is coming back on the air. The show, which is hyper-critical of black culture in America, will return to Adult Swim on Cartoon Network on May 2nd at 11:30pm. The show, which received a bit of controversy over it’s free (uncensored) use of nigger and all its derivatives, follows the the Freeman family—Robert “Granddad” Freeman (voiced by John Witherspoon) and his two grandchildren Huey and Riley (both voiced by Regina King)—who have left inner city Chicago for the fictional D.C. suburb of Woodcrest using the inheritance from the children’s deceased parents who died in a car crash prior to the first episode. Living in this predominantly white suburb they attract all manner of characters, including: the black, straight-laced DA, Tom (voiced by Cedric Yarbrough), who is married to a white woman with a propensity for Usher; the “re-vitiligo” racist, Uncle Ruckus (voiced by Gary Anthony Williams); a gay parody of Cam’Ron (named Gangstalicious and voiced by Mos Def). Seen as a groundbreaking show in the black community, numerous black (and white) celebrities auditioned for a chance to cameo or lend their voice to the show, which contains regular “appearances” by Samuel L Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Katt Williams, Busta Rhymes, Cee-Lo Green, Xzibit, Sway, Charlie Murphy, Terry Crews, and Edward Asner. Much like the Dave Chappelle Show, The Boondocks is constantly drawing from current events:

However, unlike Dave Chappelle, Aaron McGruder is much less afraid to take his critique to a much darker and unfriendly place, as evident in his depiction of MLK who in the show wakes from a coma and, disgusted by modern day black culture, has this to say:

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he HATES BET, which he depicts as actively trying to destroy black people. I think what has me so fascinated with the show is that McGruder’s views on certain aspects of black culture reflect my own; I think as a culture we can definitely do a lot better, especially in who and what we decide to pick as role models. I’m not saying it hasn’t gotten better over the last few years (e.g. Jay-Z exchanging his street persona for the high-power CEO image, rap videos becoming more artistic and less video-ho oriented, and lets not forget Barack Obama), but I can’t help but question whether or not seasons one and two had anything to do with this (Barack Obama might be reaching a little). On a lighter note, season three still offers some pretty colorful jazz:

Also the third installment of The Boondocks mixtape, Hip-Hop Docktrine 3 (The Final Chapter), drops on May 2nd and can be downloaded here.